Area receives a taste of winter on Saturday

Freezing rain is possible on Tuesday

By RON GOWER rgower@tnonline.com

Christmas shoppers found themselves coping with slippery, snow-covered roads on Saturday during a snowstorm that exceeded weather forecasters' expectations.

Most of the local area got 3-5 inches of snow, but there were parts of Wayne County where seven inches fell, and New Jersey where residents coped with eight inches. This was well beyond the forecast of 1-3 inches that had been forecast.

The good thing is that the storm came on a weekend, so it didn't impact schools. It was a good-packing snow that allowed children to make snowmen and enjoy sledding.

It also allowed Big Boulder Ski Area in Lake Harmony to open one of its slopes.

The National Weather Service says 5.0 inches of snow fell in Christman's, which is in Penn Forest Township. In Walnutport and Schnecksville, 4.0 inches of snow was measured.

Other area measurements were 6.5 inches in Tobyhanna, 6.5 inches in Zionsville, Lehigh Township, 3.7 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Aiprort, and 2.9 inches in Stroudsburg.

There's more winter weather on the way, according to forecasters, although it's not expected to be a serious event.

According to the NWS at Mount Holly, N.J., high pressure is expected to bring us cold temperatures tomorrow, then move north tomorrow night. As the high pressure moves out, a storm system will move in.

The weather is expected to begin as freezing rain and rain Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, before turning over to all rain sometime on Wednesday morning.

Accuweather is even giving less attention to the Tuesday night situation.

The Tuesday night forecast by Accuweather is cloudy with mixed snow and sleet late, with little or no accumulation. Wednesday's forecast is rain and sleet in the morning, with a bit of rain and sleet in the afternoon.

Accuweather isn't predicting any additional precipitation for the next two weeks.